The Silence of the Frogs: Longcore, Lamirande, Nichols, Pessier, 2017 Golden Goose Award (VIDEO)
Caption
Joyce Longcore spent her career toiling in relative obscurity until one day two veterinary pathologists from the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. contacted her. At the time, she was one of just a few people in the world who could have answered their question: What is killing so many of our frogs? Decades of mysterious animal deaths had led to this point, when Longcore's lifelong dedication to the study of an obscure branch of the tree of life -- chytrid fungi -- would prove crucial to unlocking the mystery of mass die-offs of amphibians around the globe. Thanks to her work with Allan Pessier, Don Nichols, Elaine Lamirande and many colleagues around the world, today we know that fungal infections have the potential to move great distances rapidly, assisted by human movement. Their insights have led to changes in national policies on how animals are moved around the globe and even helped us save iconic species from extinction.
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AAAS/522 Productions
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